


Day Two Hundred Fifteen || Short ___

by 365daysofsasuhina



Series: 365 Days of SasuHina 2019 [215]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 00:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20106073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/365daysofsasuhina/pseuds/365daysofsasuhina
Summary: Hinata's hair had always been kept short, no matter what the Academy rumors said. But maybe, in the end, growing it out wasn't such a bad idea.





	Day Two Hundred Fifteen || Short ___

For the longest time, she had no control over it. When she was young, much of her appearance was purely dictated by her father. For the few years, when her mother was given reign over her daughter’s outfits and hairstyles, Hinata was still too young to appreciate them anyway. But after Hanabi’s birth and Hanako’s death...everything concerning their mother was stripped away, too painful a reminder for Hiashi.

So, after a small time spent mourning and being too wrapped up in his own head, he ordered Hinata’s growing hair chopped to a hime cut. The same toned locks his wife had sported was just...too much to take whenever he looked at his eldest daughter. It was bad enough she had the same heart-shaped face and kind set to her eyes. So...the hair was the one thing he could control.

Short hair wasn’t too big a deal to Hinata at first. It made it all the quicker for her branch clan nanny to care for, it didn’t get in her face when running or training...it suited her just fine. So there was never any fuss whenever she was deemed ready for a new haircut. Instead, she wordlessly allowed it every time, seeing no reason to want otherwise.

Once she entered the Academy over a year after losing her mother, Hinata realized that many of the other girls had their hair longer than hers...even if not by much. At first...she was confused. Hiashi had told her that having long hair was a risk: an enemy could grab it, and hurt you! Why would anyone want to have their hair that length? And the older they got, the longer their hair grew, until those like Ino and Sakura had locks down to their back! And all the while, Hinata kept her hime cut, comforted knowing that it wouldn’t ever get in her way, or be a liability.

But then...she finally heard what all the fuss was about.

“Still growing your hair out, Forehead?” Ino asked as they met for the first day of their final year at the Academy. “Still think that just because Sasuke-kun likes long hair, he’ll notice you? He’ll be too distracted by the size of your brow to even see it!”

The rosette simply scowled. “As if Sasuke-kun could ever like someone with an attitude like yours! It stinks so bad, he’ll never get near enough to see all that hair you’ve been growing, Pig!”

“Why you -!”

From there, the conversation devolved into nothing but argument, and Hinata flinched away. Sasuke, of course, was the class heartthrob. Smart, handsome, and that silent, broody type. Apparently all of the girls found it interesting.

...and yet…

Hinata couldn’t understand it. They liked him for his quiet, cold nature...but didn’t they realize _why_ he acted that way? He’d lost..._everything_. His family, his clan, his home...of course he was going to be hard to approach and distant! And they thought that was..._cool_, or something? How shallow…!

But at least now she knew why everyone was keeping their hair so long. All to impress a boy. Up until then, Hinata had given very little thought to her own appearance...at least, beyond keeping her outfits rather baggy. Her nanny had declared her an ‘early bloomer’...whatever that meant. But for propriety’s sake, she was encouraged to keep her wardrobe loose and covering. At that age, she really wasn’t sure why. But the notion of altering what one looked like for someone else was...strange. Hiashi had always been so strict about her appearance...was it really not normal?

The thought troubled her...but not enough, at that point, to try to change it.

Besides...she wasn’t one of the girls who chased after Sasuke. Not because she disliked him - she really didn’t have much of an opinion of him to begin with. But mostly...it was because she had her eyes on someone else. Someone who, unlike her, radiated confidence and energy. Uzumaki Naruto was a troublemaker, loudmouth, prank-pulling knucklehead. But Hinata couldn’t help but envy the way he seemed to carve his own path, not care what others thought, and simply did what he wanted to without doubt or hesitation.

So, while most of her class flocked after Sasuke...Hinata instead stared longingly after someone she knew would never notice her.

But after they graduated...things began to change for Hinata. Her team, though at first clumsy and uncoordinated, began to grow...and her along with them. She went from doubting her usefulness to her teammates to letting them bolster her, becoming determined to bloom into someone worthy of being noticed by her hero. For a few months, Hinata - slowly and surely - made progress in her goals.

...and then...Kurenai nominated them for the chūnin exams. The prospect had made her nervous, but her team was confident they would make it. And, until the third exam’s preliminaries, they did rather well for themselves.

But a roll of the dice pitted her against Neji: her branch clan cousin who hated her and her family for his father’s death, and his own sealed fate. Wanting still to progress, she refused to back down.

It almost killed her.

Then, while her heart was still recovering, Konoha was attacked by not just Oto, but Suna as well. Much of the village was left in ruins, many shinobi were killed...and the aftermath saw many of her classmates frustrated. Sasuke, many of his struggles unknown to her, fled the village. Naruto, after the failed retrieval, decided to leave with Jiraiya to train. Sakura and Ino took up apprenticeships under Tsunade.

...and Hinata realized something. She had to get stronger. Her weakness, up to that point, had cost her many things. But she had to do it on _her_ terms. For _herself_. Not for Naruto, not for her father, not for anyone or anything but herself and her own determination.

So...she took up training under her cousin. And she began to let other things change. No longer did she cut her hair simply because it was expected of her. Instead, she retook the appearance that mirrored her mother so closely. It didn’t matter that Hiashi looked at her so painfully. She loved her mother, too. And she would honor her memory by relishing in how she inherited so many of her features.

By the time Naruto returned, it was nearly to her waist. Straight as an arrow, with a healthy shine. And with her taijutsu so improved, she no longer feared being taken by a grip to her locks.

An enemy would never get close enough to have the chance.

Even during the war, the lengths ran free and long. And after? Though part of her longed for a change...she refused to cut it again. Never would she go back to short hair. Even if it meant nothing to anyone else, having that heirloom of her mother brought her a kind of comfort.

And as the crossing paths of the Hyūga and Uchiha meant spending more and more time with Uchiha Sasuke, she realized...maybe his liking long hair wasn’t so bad.

Especially now, with the two of them having been going steady for several months. In the end, it wasn’t Ino’s beautiful tail of gold, or Sakura’s symbolic chopping of her hair during the exams that caught his eye. True, he saw the rest of her - the _who_, not the _what_ \- long before he paid her appearance any mind. But as it turns out...he really _does_ like long hair.

...sort of.

He’s always finding excuses to run fingers through it, bury his nose in it, or even just idly play with the strands whenever they have quiet, still moments together.

“So...the Academy rumors were true?”

“Hm?”

“About you liking long hair.”

That earns a snort. “In all honesty? I didn’t have a preference. I have no idea where that came from.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“...huh…”

“But,” Sasuke then goes on, fingers threading through amethyst locks. “I do like yours.”

“...may I ask why?”

He goes quiet for a time. “...I think...it’s because it reminds me a bit of my mother’s.”

“...really…?”

“Yeah.”

After a pause, Hinata softens with a smile. “...that’s why _I_ like it. It reminds me of _my_ mother’s.”

“Guess we’ve got that in common. Just...please promise me you won’t ever cut it again.”

“What, you didn’t like my hime cut?”

“No, I just...like it better this way.”

“All right, all right...I promise. No more short hair.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm v tired so I'll be brief =w=
> 
> Just a lil drabble about Hinata's hair. While I adore her hime cut, I also like her with long hair...aaand I don't like her cut in next gen stuff. So my Hina keeps it long for Sasuke's sake x3
> 
> But uh...yeah! That's all for today~ Thanks for reading!


End file.
